In an interview with the BBC in February, Grab’s boss said the firm wanted to become more relevant to users’ everyday lives and planned to expand its food delivery service.

“We want to be that app that allows you to buy your coffee, earn your rewards and then after that, you want to buy your lunch and order in, have your food delivered so you don’t have to go through the traffic jam,” Mr Tan said.

“And when you’re that relevant, that real to every customer across the 600 million base, then you create huge value.”

As a result of the merger, the GrabFood service will expand from two to four South East Asian countries by next quarter, Grab said in statement.

“This will be another great use case to drive continued adoption of the GrabPay mobile wallet and support Grab’s growing Financial Services platform,” the firm said.

Grab added that the acquisition would accelerate its path to profitability.

Last year, Uber lost $4.5bn (£3.2bn) – and its chief executive – as it underwent a fundamental shake-up following a harassment scandal.

In November, Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi, said the company’s Asia operations were not going to be “profitable any time soon” and said he would like to see some changes.

The firm has also exited its Russian business, selling to local firm Yandex.